I used to be one of those guys until I got the Pulse Elite. Awesome theater surround sound makes using the mic so horrible for those on the other end apparently And it doesn't matter what kind of noise cancellation it has. It will not work for those of us with great sound setups. There is no way for it to discern between my voice or another's coming out of my speakers. Especially when it's on a high volume. Mics are a must.

The microphone array is now apparently capable of filtering out sound from speakers. I am skeptical but they specifically mentioned it...somewhere.

I used to be one of those guys until I got the Pulse Elite. Awesome theater surround sound makes using the mic so horrible for those on the other end apparently

I was not kidding when I said it is what makes the PSN so bad. 80% of the audio sounding like ass on the PSN more often than not is due to the fact people have their theatre surround sound up loud, and the mic is also picking up the sound from the game, and when it is multiple people doing it at once, at slightly different increments of seconds as well, it creates a god awful loop of feedback. Truth is I do not use my mic a whole lot these days regardless, but I do hope Sony does something to address this fact.

The microphone array is now apparently capable of filtering out sound from speakers. I am skeptical but they specifically mentioned it...somewhere.

Okay makes sense, they have to have some kind of noise canceling feature like that to be touting it as a viable solution. With that said at the very least, it would probably pick up the other players voices. Hopefully not.

For all new hires in my company I worked with my IT department to make sure everyone gets a headset as part of their starter kit for the very same reason. It was a cool couple hour long assignment as I got to go to Best Buy and purchase headsets ranging in price from $15 to $100 and test them all out. Turns out we went with a $20 pair as it also included the good old fashioned pink and green adapter, which some people in the field had laptops which still had those audio connections. But including the same headset brings a consistency to dealing with sound that is definitely desirable. I actually think I may have even been inspired to do so by MS doing it with the 360. I am actually very surprised they are taking this route to be quite honest if it winds up being the case. The inclusion of the headset on the 360 was an absolutely great idea and I always thought Sony should do something similar. Another big reason the PSN sounds like ass is the fact anyone can use almost any headset.

I can't keep editing an OP, so stuff then gets posted on random pages. I think you have to be a Neowin sub to keep editing the OP.

But fine, I'll stop posting and let others do the work. I'm tired now anyway and have wasted way more time than I really should have today (should of been working). I'm probably just too used to the NeoGAF way of splitting everything up to discuss it all as everyone pleases - They say it stifles discussion if everyone crams things into one topic.

Dude, what you are doing is totally fine.

It is a lot of info, and it is coming in, in dribs and drabs. People want to discus each aspect in depth, which would just become a mess were it all in one thread.

What happens if you're using the Kinect mic during a MP game? Do all the other gamers hear you say commands like 'xbox snap...'?

No? If it hears you say Xbox first, and it sees you actually looking at the screen and holding a controller, i.e. engaged in a game, then it knows you're giving it a command. Otherwise if you're just talking then yes, i'd say you are chatting normally.

As was mentioned the controller still has a port so you can still use some handset if you want but if not the kinect2 will work just as well. If you look at the demo to you don't have to scream, the mic array seems to be so good that will the noise filtering it can pick up voices quite well.

I'm a little skeptical about this, I assume it will be command driven to mute? "Xbox, Mute"

I often will mute my headset multiple times when playing online with friends so that I can talk to the misses or even simple things like having a drink, No-one wants to hear me slurping away!!

Also, if its "clever" enough to detect Im actually giving it a command then surely that means there is a delay in speech? so when I say xbox there has to be a half second before it sends the voice or uses it as a command. I know that doesnt sound a lot and maybe there is a delay already but this just seems like it would add to anything which I would imagine could completely change how some people game.

As much as I hate to admit it, I am totally pro Xbox (i like to think i can justify this by owning all 3 last gen consoles so my opinions tend to be based on my experiences), but the one does keep just giving me reasons to wish i wasn't! Looking forward to E3 to see more on the Xbox and PS and hopefully restore my faith in the xbox.

I'm a little skeptical about this, I assume it will be command driven to mute? "Xbox, Mute"

I often will mute my headset multiple times when playing online with friends so that I can talk to the misses or even simple things like having a drink, No-one wants to hear me slurping away!!

Also, if its "clever" enough to detect Im actually giving it a command then surely that means there is a delay in speech? so when I say xbox there has to be a half second before it sends the voice or uses it as a command. I know that doesnt sound a lot and maybe there is a delay already but this just seems like it would add to anything which I would imagine could completely change how some people game.

As much as I hate to admit it, I am totally pro Xbox (i like to think i can justify this by owning all 3 last gen consoles so my opinions tend to be based on my experiences), but the one does keep just giving me reasons to wish i wasn't! Looking forward to E3 to see more on the Xbox and PS and hopefully restore my faith in the xbox.

It doesn't check after you say Xbox to see if it's a command or not, it's still watching you when it's on so if the moment it sees you staring at the TV and that you have a controller in your hand it is waiting to hear a command. If for example you turn away from the screen and try to issue a command it won't work. It might not also work if you don't have a controller in your hand if a game is playing at the time.

The delay is there, true, but if it's minor enough it shouldn't be a issue.

It doesn't check after you say Xbox to see if it's a command or not, it's still watching you when it's on so if the moment it sees you staring at the TV and that you have a controller in your hand it is waiting to hear a command. If for example you turn away from the screen and try to issue a command it won't work. It might not also work if you don't have a controller in your hand if a game is playing at the time.

The delay is there, true, but if it's minor enough it shouldn't be a issue.

Ok, but if I am playing a MP game then I'm going to be looking at the TV, if I'm chatting to friends online i am looking at the tv, if i then want to mute then i need to say Xbox, Mute (guessing)... I'm still looking at the tv the whole time. So do the people I'm playing with here me say Xbox Mute? I could be about to say something like Xbox is bla bla to my friends so it cant just mute when it hears Xbox.

I guess this is all just pure speculation at the moment so doesn't really mean anything but it just sounds like its something waiting to go wrong.

Ok, but if I am playing a MP game then I'm going to be looking at the TV, if I'm chatting to friends online i am looking at the tv, if i then want to mute then i need to say Xbox, Mute (guessing)... I'm still looking at the tv the whole time. So do the people I'm playing with here me say Xbox Mute? I could be about to say something like Xbox is bla bla to my friends so it cant just mute when it hears Xbox.

I guess this is all just pure speculation at the moment so doesn't really mean anything but it just sounds like its something waiting to go wrong.

It could be different while in a game and playing and in a app or movie or on the dashboard? It's hard to say, heh, until we get it or see more demos of it in action, probably at E3.